poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

Not one of his best but displaying some of his best qualities. A poem where mood and tone are the main drivers of meaning. - the sense of vague brooding on age and the inevitability of death. An almost stoical acceptance of things as the aging schoolmaster finds them.The failing powers of memory are mentioned in the last stanza.Underlying image of the seasons passing. Echo of '... it tolls for thee' etc. Do not like the unhappy conjunction of 'april' and 'like apples' Do not like the redundant 'ands' Some excellent alliteration- 'sentenced selves' etc. Notice the solemn slow roundness of the first stanza that helps create that ponderous meditative feel which is lightened by the careful placing of 'vague' and the phrase 'not wholly wretched'at the start of stanza 2